Club members spice things up in the kitchen

The Gorgeous Spice Club co-founders Lindan Courtemanche and Louise Adams are on a quest to inspire people to be brave and creative in the kitchen.
The two friends met while spending time in this area, with Courtemanche having a place near Creemore and Adams having a place in Mulmur. As their friendship blossomed they shared many meals together and discovered they have a shared passion for cooking.
“Over the years we would trade recipes and talk about what made stuff fantastic, and that was the genesis,” said Adams.
Self-proclaimed spice nerds, Courtemanche and Adams agreed they were the secret to any great dish.
“We both fell head over heals for spices when we started researching it,” said Courtemanche.
They developed a spice club, in which members are sent a spice of the month and a spice mix based on that spice. The two are meant to work harmoniously in a meal. They also include recipes, historical information, spice culture tidbits and even a playlist of songs that connect to the spice. A complementary podcast will feature a chef who worked with that spice.
Adams said they work very hard, but also have a lot of fun, coming up with the spice blends and assigning names inspired by pop culture.
“Spices have always been this precious last minute thing and what we are really trying to do here is turn that experience around,” said Adams.
“When you look at the ingredients based on what has the biggest impact on the flavour, and you think about the dish you are making based on a spice, it completely turns the whole experience upside down in a really fun way,” said Courtemanche.
“We really are on a quest to make food fascinating by a combination of helping people explore, educating on spices, entertaining them with the history and the relevance, at the end delivering really thrilling taste. It’s really high impact cooking so it’s an interesting combination of all those elements,” said Adams.
They are working with a third generation importer to source their spices. Their freshness, and grinding in small batches to preserve the oil content, results in the high quality of the flavour and aroma in their spices.
“It’s a really premium quality of spice and then handled in such a way to bring the most flavour to it,” said Courtemanche.
While the spices may be exotic, the ingredients in the accompanying recipes are not. They have made sure that people can source everything they need to utilize their spice membership at local grocery stores.
Charter memberships start at $99 and are available for delivery anywhere in Canada. Charter members receive special perks and offers. Sign up before Oct. 24.
The Gorgeous Spice Club has launched on a crowdfunding platform in order to help build a community around their product.
“We are super excited to see how many people in the Creemore area have signed up and we can’t wait to start shipping the product,” said Courtemanche.
To sign up, visit www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-gorgeous-spice-club.